8. PMP Mock Exam (LITE) - 2
d. Develop a team charter. Developing a team charter is a good practice but that cannot mitigate the risk at hand. The other choices are valid mitigation strategies. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 58]
You and your team are about to start a new project. In the past the team has faced issues with estimating user stories and provided inaccurate estimates. All of the following actions can help mitigate this risk from happing on this project EXCEPT: a. Reduce story size by splitting stories. b. Use relative estimation. c. Use Agile modeling or spiking. d. Develop a team charter.
a. Project complexity Project complexity might influence the project durations, costs, risks and other attributes. However, the project complexity should not influence the effectiveness of an Agile team. However, the team size, members' locations and availability can influence the team's effectiveness. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 39]
You are an Agile consultant hired by a construction firm. The firm wants to adopt Agile management approaches for all of its internal process improvement projects. You are currently developing a number of checklists that the organization can use while initiating projects. Which of the following doesn't influence the effectiveness of an Agile team? a. Project complexity b. Team members' availability c. Team members' locations d. Team size
b. Backlog preparation and refinement Kanban boards are used to manage an Agile team's work in progress. Retrospectives are team reflection points conducted at regular intervals. Daily standups are used by Agile teams to communicate and make team commitments. Backlog preparation and refinement are the activities conducted jointly by Agile teams and the product owner to prioritize project deliverables by the order of business value. This allows Agile teams to focus only on high-value deliverables. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 98]
"Simplicity - the art of maximizing the amount of work not done is essential" is one of the 12 fundamental principles of Agile. Which of the following Agile techniques helps realize this principle? a. Retrospectives b. Backlog preparation and refinement c. Kanban boards d. Daily standups
d. Demonstrations and reviews Agile teams use prototypes, demonstrations and reviews to understand and refine project scope which enables rapid delivery of a working product. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 97]
"Working software over comprehensive documentation" is one of the key Agile Manifesto values. Which of the following Agile approaches helps in achieving this value? a. Daily standups b. Chartering the project and the team c. Agile measurements d. Demonstrations and reviews
c. 12 Lead time is the total time it takes to deliver an item, measure from the time it is added to the board to the moment it is completed. The 30 stories were added at the start of the project but were completed at the end of the 4th iteration. The total lead time for the 30 stories completed in the 4th iteration was 4 x 3 weeks = 12 weeks. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 64]
A dedicated Agile team is currently working on an ERP system customization and deployment project five days a week. Each iteration is time-boxed at three weeks. A total of 500 story points were estimated at the start of the project. The team has recently completed its 4th iteration on the project and have successfully delivered 30 story points during this iteration. So far, the team has delivered a total of 120 story points on the project. If no new stories have been added to the project since initiation, what was the lead time (in weeks) for the 30 stories delivered during the last iteration? a. 9 b. 2 c. 12 d. 0.5
a. Resource Histogram The Resource Histogram is a tool for charting human resources. It illustrates the number of hours that a person, department or entire project team will be needed each week or month over the course of the project. The chart can include a horizontal line that represents the maximum number of hours from a particular resource. This can be used for a resource leveling strategy. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Pages 211, 719]
A new telecom network operator is planning to launch its services in your country. Your organization has won the contract to build their network and you have been assigned as the project manager on this project. Early during the project execution, some key staff members have complained of over allocation on project tasks. In order to investigate this, which of the following tools can help you identify resources that are over-allocated? a. Resource Histogram b. Resource Assignment Matrix c. Resource Breakdown Structure d. Network diagram
c. Quality management plan The procurement management plan, schedule baseline, and the cost baseline typically gets updated as result of a significant change in procurement contracts or strategy. However, the quality management plan is least likely to get updated during this process since quality requirements always need to be met by all contractors. The contractors can be allowed more money or time to complete the works but cannot be allowed to compromise the quality of the works. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 500]
During the Control Procurements process, a number of documents might get updated due to various reasons. Which of the following components of the project management plan is least likely to get updated during this process? a. Procurement management plan b. Cost baseline c. Quality management plan d. Schedule baseline
d. Buy Insurance Transferring project risk (to a third party) can be done through tools such as insurance contracts, performance bonds, and warranties. [PMBOK® Guide 6th Edition, Page 443]
Lisa is the project manager of a large construction project. The project has got a big scope and a limited time to complete all deliveries. During an initial project risks identification event, Lisa identifies a number of risks in the project and wants to prepare for them. Which of the following can be used to transfer some project risks? a. Accept the risk b. Change the project management plan to eliminate risk c. Mitigate the risk d. Buy Insurance
8. PMP Mock Exam (LITE) - 2
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c. Technical Performance Analysis Technical performance analysis, a tool and technique of the Monitor Risks process, is used to evaluate the differentials between planned and actual costs, schedules, and performance criteria. Several statistical techniques, such as Earned Value (EV) technique, are used to analyze these variances. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 456]
You are aware that cost and schedule risks are prevalent in your project. You want to compare the planned project performance with its actual performance during the Monitor Risks process. What should you perform to provide this information? a. Reserve analysis b. Risk reassessment c. Technical Performance Analysis d. Risk audit
c. Agile Unified Process Agile Unified Process is a simplistic version of the Rational Unified Process (RUP) and is an understandable approach to developing business application software using Agile techniques and concepts. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 150]
Which of the following is a simplistic version of the Rational Unified Process (RUP) and is an understandable approach to developing business application software using Agile techniques and concepts? a. Agility Driven Rational Unified Process b. Rational Rose Process c. Agile Unified Process d. Agile Rational Process
c. Authorize the seller's work at the appropriate time The role of the Direct and Manage Project Work will be to authorize the seller's work at the appropriate time. Inspection and verification of the seller's work will be handled by the Control Quality process and the change management will be handled by the Perform Integrated Change Control process. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 90]
a. Inspect and verify the adequacy of the seller's product c. Authorize the seller's work at the appropriate time
b. Low-tech, high-touch technology. Kanban boards are a low-tech, high-touch technology that may seem overly simplistic at first, but those using them soon realize their power. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 105]
The Kanban method is less prescriptive than some Agile approaches and less disruptive to being implemented. Organizations can begin applying the Kanban method with relative ease. A Kanban board is a: a. High-tech, high-touch technology. b. Low-tech, high-touch technology. c. High-tech, low-touch technology. d. Low-tech, low-touch technology.
b. High-change projects where there is more complexity than one person can manage. Agile approaches are recommended for high-change projects. Such projects require cross-functional teams to coordinate their own work because usually such projects have more complexity than one person can manage. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 38]
The traditional project management approaches place the project manager at the center of coordination for the project and makes them responsible for the project tracking and reporting. However this approach is not suitable for: a. Projects that require front-loaded planning work. b. High-change projects where there is more complexity than one person can manage. c. Low-change projects where detailed scope has been provided by the client organization. d. Projects where detailed schedules are required to be developed and approved by the clients.
a. Active acceptance Recognizing the risk and not changing the plan but making some contingencies in the event the risk is triggered is an example of active acceptance. Passive acceptance would recognize the risk but not put contingencies in place, and avoidance would be correct if the project plan were modified. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 443]
There are a number of risks that have been identified in your project. The team has decided not to change the project plan to deal with the risks, but they have established a contingency reserve of money in the event something triggers these risks. This is an example of what type of risk mitigation technique? a. Active acceptance b. Contingent Response Strategy c. Avoidance d. Passive acceptance
d. Add a lessons-learned agenda item. A good approach is to add a lessons-learned agenda item to the meeting. As the meeting progresses to the point where you're ready to collect lessons-learned information, ask each team member about his or her positive and negative experiences for the week. Don't mention the words "lessons learned" to them; just capture what went right and wrong from every team member. Do your best to prevent this part of the meeting from devolving into a complaint session. [PMI best practice; not explicitly stated in PMBOK® Guide]
A project manager must stress the importance of collecting and documenting lessons learned through the project lifecycle. One good way to collect this information is during weekly status meetings. Usually, weekly status meetings, if not managed properly, end up in fire-fighting since most of the time, attention goes to the burning issues. How can you ensure that the lessons-learned gathering does not get missed in such a situation? a. Do not discuss burning issues in weekly status meetings. b. Replace status update meetings with one-on-one meetings with the team members. c. Record the minutes of the meeting. d. Add a lessons-learned agenda item.
c. Test-driven development Penalties and fear cannot encourage a mistake-proofing discipline. The team should consider using various test-driven development practices. This mistake-proofing discipline makes it difficult for defects to remain undetected. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 32]
A team is developing an online appraisals management system using an incremental project life cycle. The customer is complaining about the number of bugs that are detected by the customer which should have been detected by the project team. Which of the following techniques encourage a mistake-proofing discipline? a. Team penalties b. Individual penalties c. Test-driven development d. Cost of quality
d. Fishbone diagram This is an example of a fishbone diagram. A fishbone diagram, also called a cause and effect diagram or Ishikawa diagram, is a visualization tool for categorizing the potential causes of a problem in order to identify its root causes. [PMBOK® Guide, 6th edition, Page 294]
Albert is leading a project that requires production of about a million sleepers for client who is currently building a railway network. The last batch of deliverables was rejected by the client and Albert is now reviewing this with the team. The following was prepared during the meeting. What diagram is this? *it looks like a fishbone a. 80/20 chart b. Pareto chart c. Control chart d. Fishbone diagram
d. Developing the system in a silo will introduce risk. Developing the system in a silo will introduce project risk. What if the user requirements change or there are changes in the project environment? Other choices are incorrect as they are extreme positions. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, page 397]
Albert is managing a system development project but so far has failed to actively engage the operations group during the system development. When you asked Albert about this, he told you that a focus group representing the users was formed during project planning phase that produced detailed and very specific requirements specifications and so there was no need to keep them engaged during the system development. What is your response? a. The project will take more time to complete. b. User requirements cannot be accurately defined at the start of the project. c. The acceptance testing will fail. d. Developing the system in a silo will introduce risk.
a. 75 weeks Velocity = average story points per iteration. At the end of the 4th iteration, the team delivered 76 story points in total. The velocity at the end of the 4th iteration was 76/4 = 19 story points per iteration on average. At the end of the 5th iteration, the team delivered 100 story points in total (76+24). The current velocity is 100/5 = 20 story points per iteration on average. Further the 5th iteration throughput was 24 story points per iteration. Since 600 story points are remaining (700 - 100), at the 5th iteration throughput of 24 story points per iteration, the team would require an additional 25 iterations (600/24) to complete the project. With each iteration fixed at three weeks, this means the team needs 75 weeks to complete the project. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 61]
An Agile project has a total of 700 story points and each project iteration has a fixed duration of three weeks. At the end of the 4th iteration, the team had successfully delivered 76 story points. The team was able to successfully address some improvement opportunities and during the 5th iteration the team was able to deliver additional 24 story points. Assuming that the team can maintain its 5th iteration's throughput for the rest of the project, and no more story points are added to the project, how many more weeks are required to complete the project? a. 75 weeks b. 87 weeks c. 96 weeks d. 90 weeks
d. The law of diminishing returns When one factor used to determine the effort required to produce a unit of work is increased while all other factors remain fixed, a point will eventually be reached at which additions of that one factor start to yield progressively decreased productivity. This is commonly known as the law of diminishing returns. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 197]
Crashing is an effective schedule compression technique at times when a project is struggling behind schedule. However, increasing the number of resources to twice the original number of the resources does not always cut the time by half. This is due to: a. Fast tracking the project b. Risk mitigation due to crashing the project c. Critical path analysis d. The law of diminishing returns
a. ES - AT The alternate equation for calculating schedule variance is SV = ES - AT. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 233]
Earned Schedule (ES) is an extension to the theory and practice of EVM. Earned schedule theory replaces the schedule variance measures used in traditional EVM with ES and actual time (AT). Using the alternate equation for calculating schedule variance: a. ES - AT b. EV - PV c. AT - ES d. PV - EV
b. Organize an exploratory spike. If the impact is significant, the risk cannot be ignored. However, since the mitigation actions needs to be tested, an exploratory spike needs to be arranged. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 56]
Halfway through the iteration, a senior team member has expressed his concern regarding a major risk. Although the probability of the risk occurrence is very low, the impact will be significant if the risk does occur. The team member has some mitigation ideas that need to be tested before being implemented. What should you do? a. Add the risk to your watch-list. b. Organize an exploratory spike. c. Immediately implement the mitigation actions. d. Ignore the risk as the probability is very low.
c. Scrum master The scrum master is responsible for ensuring the Scrum process is upheld and works to ensure the Scrum team adheres to the practices and rules as well as coaches the team on removing impediments. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 101]
In projects following Scrum framework, who is responsible for ensuring the Scrum process is upheld and works to ensure the Scrum team adheres to the practices and rules? a. Product owner b. Development team c. Scrum master d. Business analyst
d. These uncertainties can contribute to high rates of change and project complexity. Initial project budget and duration might be difficult to determine, but it should still be possible. Rough order of magnitude estimates can be used if detailed requirements are not known early during the project. The project might or might not result in layoffs and no relevant information has been provided to determine this. However, since the project has significant uncertainties, this can contribute to high rate of change and project complexity. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 13]
Jill is managing an organizational re-design project. Although the higher level operating model was approved by the project's steering committee, most of the project stakeholders lack a clear understanding of their requirements and are struggling to envision future processes and workflows. This has brought a great deal of uncertainty around project requirements and how to fulfil those requirements. Which of the following is a major project risk at this stage? a. Initial project duration cannot be determined. b. Initial project budget cannot be determined. c. These uncertainties would result in a big number of layoffs. d. These uncertainties can contribute to high rates of change and project complexity.
a. Time-boxing Time-boxed periods are durations during which the team works steadily toward completion of a goal. Time-boxing helps to minimize scope creep as it forces the teams to process essential features first, then other features when time permits. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 182]
Tim is managing an organizational workflow automation project and is having a tough time identifying detailed project requirements. Some project team members have suggested trying an adaptive project life cycle to handle this challenge. Tim is a bit concerned that abandoning a predictive lifecycle will introduce a significant risk of scope creep and has asked you for an expert opinion on the matter. Which of the following techniques used in adaptive lifecycles helps in minimizing scope creep? a. Time-boxing b. User epics c. Iterations d. User stories
a. While calculating the duration of schedule activities, differences in staff capabilities should be taken into consideration. A senior staff member will generally be expected to finish an activity in less time than a junior member. When calculating the duration of schedule activities, differences in the capabilities of assigned staff should be taken into consideration. A senior staff member will typically be expected to finish an activity in less time than a junior member. There is no generic rule that a senior resource can finish an activity in 80% of the time that a junior resource could. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 196]
Joe is managing a technology platform upgrade project. The project was initiated as the currently deployed technology was getting obsolete from the market. Joe is currently estimating activity durations for his project. Which of the following should he consider while performing this activity? a. While calculating the duration of schedule activities, differences in staff capabilities should be taken into consideration. A senior staff member will generally be expected to finish an activity in less time than a junior member. b. While calculating the duration of schedule activities, an average should be used and the actual differences in the capabilities of staff assigned should not be taken into consideration. c. While calculating the duration of schedule activities, differences in the capabilities of staff assigned should not be taken into consideration. All senior and junior staff should be given equal weight. d. While calculating the duration of schedule activities, differences in staff capabilities should be taken into consideration. A senior staff member will generally be expected to finish an activity in 80 percent of the time that a junior member.
a. Backlog preparation and refinement Backlog preparation and refinement are the activities where the business (product owner) and the developers (Agile team) work together to define and prioritize project objectives. The rest of the choices are tools used by Agile teams not necessarily with the direct involvement of the business. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 98]
One of the 12 Agile principles states that, "Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project". Which of the following Agile techniques helps achieve this? a. Backlog preparation and refinement b. Daily standups c. Retrospectives d. Kanban boards
c. This limits the use of feedback to improve the product. Many vendor relationships are governed by fixed milestones or phase gates focused on intermediate artifacts, rather than a full deliverable of incremental business value. Often, these controls limit the use of feedback to improve the product. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 77]
Traditional teams govern vendor relationships by fixed milestones or phase gates focused on intermediate artifacts, rather than a full deliverable of incremental business value. What is the challenge associated with this approach? a. This decreases a project team's throughput. b. This decreases the team's morale. c. This limits the use of feedback to improve the product. d. This increases the size and the number of features in a product.
a. They can create arbitrary float values and limit later scheduling options. Discretionary dependencies are established based on the knowledge of best practices within a specific application area. This is done to achieve a specific sequence even though there are other options. The risk is that they may cause arbitrary float values and later limit scheduling options because of the specific sequencing chosen. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 191]
While sequencing activities for a project, the project management team applied certain discretionary dependencies. This was based on their knowledge of best practices within the project application area. What is the potential risk involved in using such dependencies? a. They can create arbitrary float values and limit later scheduling options. b. They can create arbitrary float values and create external dependencies. c. They can create arbitrary float values and create mandatory dependencies. d. They can create fixed float values and create external dependencies.
d. Project resilience Emergent risks can be tackled through developing project resilience. This requires each project to have right level of budget and schedule contingencies, flexible project processes, empowered project team and frequent review of early warning signs. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 399]
With a growing awareness of so-called unknowable-unknowns, the existence of emergent risk is becoming clear. These are risks that can only be recognized after they have occurred. Emergent risks can be tackled through developing: a. Project management plan b. Project charter c. Project risk management plan d. Project resilience
a. Analogous Estimating The estimate will use expert judgment (past team members) and data from a prior project. Not much money should be spent creating the estimate. This is an example of analogous estimating. [PMBOK® Guide 6th Edition, Page 200]
You are asked to provide a reasonably accurate estimate—without spending much money creating it—for a project to create material safety data sheets (MSDS) for a chemical company. This project is similar to one your company closed last year. You have decided to gather the project team members from the previous project to discuss and come up with an estimate for your management team. This is an example of what type of estimating? a. Analogous Estimating b. Statistical Estimating c. Parametric Estimating d. Bottom Up Estimating
d. Throughout the entire project Changes can occur in the project at any time. The Perform Integrated Change Control process is valuable for managing and tracking those changes. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 115]
You are beginning a new project. The project scope includes delivery of some key capabilities to the organization. The timely completion of this project is critical for the organization to maintain its market position in the industry. You are aware that due to the nature of the project, the project scope can never be locked and there are going to be a number of changes throughout the project. The change control process in your organization has historically been time a consuming activity. When should you use the Perform Integrated Change Control process on your project? a. Only after the project scope is clearly defined b. Only after the project is completely funded c. Only when closing out the project d. Throughout the entire project
b. Used prototypes. If the stakeholders are not happy with the user interface during the demonstration, this means they haven't been involved during the development of these features. This problem could have been avoided through successive prototypes or proofs of concept. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 21]
You are demonstrating the results of your first iterations and discover that some of the stakeholders are not happy with the user interface of the features you have developed. What should you have done to prevent this situation? a. Collected detailed user interface specifications. b. Used prototypes. c. Create a contingency reserve for this risk. d. Hired qualified developers for this project.
b. You should not schedule these events well in advance, the project team decides when to call a retrospective. You should not schedule these events well in advance, the project team decides when to call a retrospective. Retrospectives can be scheduled on different occasions, such as the end of sprint, completion of a release, achievement of some milestone, or whenever the team gets stuck with the project work. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 51]
You are leading a complex project and are currently doing some high-level planning. You want to schedule retrospectives so that each team member's calendar gets booked. How should you schedule these events? a. At the end of each release. b. You should not schedule these events well in advance, the project team decides when to call a retrospective. c. At the end of each sprint. d. When more than a few weeks have passed since the previous retrospective.
b. Pair programming Pair programming is an XP technique that requires one programmer to review the code as the second programmer writes the code. This allows just-in-time feedback. This technique can be tailored to process work as one process analyst is drafting a process, a second analyst reviews the work. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 153]
You are leading an Agile team currently analyzing and documenting enterprise-level processes for an organization. In order to review drafted processes as early as possible and get a just-in-time feedback, which XP technique can be tailored and applied? a. Sensitivity analysis b. Pair programming c. Backlog grooming d. Demonstrations
d. Iteration demonstration The first part of delivery is a demonstration. Demonstrations or reviews are a necessary part of the Agile project flow. Agile teams use prototypes, demonstrations and reviews to understand and refine project scope which enables rapid delivery of a working product. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 57]
You are leading an Agile team developing a factory automation system. From time to time, you rely on customer feedback to validate the functionality of the system being developed. Which Agile event is used to capture this feedback? a. Retrospective b. Backlog grooming c. Spike event d. Iteration demonstration
a. Encourage using a pair programming approach. On XP projects, we apply the pair programming approach. Even if the analytics expert is the only person to perform a specific task, pair programming must be encouraged. All of the other choices are irrelevant to the problem at hand. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 153]
You are leading an XP project. The analytics expert is of the view that he should single-handedly develop the analytics module since nobody else on the team has the subject matter knowledge. How should you react? a. Encourage using a pair programming approach. b. Request the expert to train another person on the team. c. Acknowledge the dedication of the analytics expert. d. Hire another analytics expert on the team.
b. Early cancellation clause When an Agile supplier delivers sufficient value with only half of the scope completed, the early cancellation clause allows the customer to withdraw from the relationship. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 78]
You are managing a complex project. The project objectives are known but the exact scope of work cannot be defined. Which of the following provisions can allow you to withdraw from a contractual relationship halfway through the project? a. Force majeure clause b. Early cancellation clause c. No-contest clause d. Non-compete clause
b. Monte Carlo Analysis Monte Carlo Analysis is a technique that computes or iterates the project cost or the project schedule many times, using input values selected at random from probability distributions of possible costs or durations. In this way, one can calculate a distribution of possible total project costs or completion dates. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 213]
You are managing a complex research and development project. Since your organization has performed many similar projects in the past, you have got a good database of duration and costs estimates for your project activities. The project schedule is not only complex with multiple relation-types, associations and assignments; it has over 5,000 scheduled activities. Which of the following techniques will help you iterate the project schedule many times to calculate a distribution of possible project completion dates? a. Pareto Cost chart b. Monte Carlo Analysis c. Deming Analysis d. Montford analysis
c. Configuration management system A configuration/change management system, including change control processes, provides a mechanism for the project management team to communicate all approved and rejected changes to the stakeholders consistently. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 115]
You are managing a construction project for a government agency. Both the client and your project team agrees that a number of change requests are expected during the course of the project. Timely and effective project communications are critical for the success of this project. Which of the following will allow you to communicate all approved and rejected changes to the stakeholders consistently? a. Change management board b. Verification management system c. Configuration management system d. Configuration status accounting
b. Conduct critical path analysis for the project. Critical path analysis is a waterfall approach. The rest of the choices are valid actions that can help in this situation. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 58]
You are your team are executing a knowledge work project. The project has started to suffer some delays and overruns due to insufficiently refined product backlog items. A number of actions can be recommended at this stage EXCEPT: a. Schedule a backlog refinement workshop with the product owner and the team. b. Conduct critical path analysis for the project. c. Split stories into smaller stories. d. Create a definition of "ready" for the stories.
b. Existence of departmental silos. If the organization is decomposed into departmental silos, that prevents accelerated delivery and doesn't encourage forming cross-functional teams. The rest of the choices are desirable attributes. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Pages 73, 74]
You have been hired by an organization as the Agile Consultant. The organization has recently embarked upon the Agile journey. Which of the following is not a change-friendly characteristic for organizations beginning to use Agile approaches? a. Focus on short-term budgeting and metrics versus long-term goals. b. Existence of departmental silos. c. Talent management maturity and capabilities. d. Executive management's commitment.
b. Build a product roadmap using user story mapping and impact mapping. Consider building a product roadmap using specifications, user story mapping, and impact mapping. Then, bring the team and product owner together to clarify the expectations and value of captured requirements. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 58]
You have recently been asked to design and build a "complex" project that is supposed to somehow reduce the production costs by 20% or more. Although the project's vision is clear, the project requirements are not. You and team need to understand the high level project requirements to start project work. How should you proceed? a. Develop a project charter followed by a team charter. b. Build a product roadmap using user story mapping and impact mapping. c. Develop a team charter followed by a project charter. d. Groom the product backlog and select the high-value requirements.
a. Predictive approach due to low risk. When the project uncertainty is low, incremental approaches, adaptive and Agile approaches can be expensive. When the risk level is low, especially with the scope of works, predictive/waterfall approaches are more suitable. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 20]
You have recently been assigned a new project. This is a big project, $2M in budget and 12 months in duration. However, the uncertainty involved with the project is very low. Which project management approach would you select? a. Predictive approach due to low risk. b. Adaptive approach due to high budget. c. Agile approach due to project complexity. d. Incremental approach due to project duration.
a. Listing of all requirements for a specific project. A Business Requirement Document (BRD) lists all requirements for a specific project. [Agile Practice Guide, 1st edition, Page 150]
You have recently been hired as a senior business analyst on a complex system integration project. The chief programmer has asked you to review the project BRD prior to arranging a meeting with him. What is a BRD? a. Listing of all requirements for a specific project. b. Collection of user stories sorted by themes. c. Business risk document. d. High level schedule of a project.
a. Stakeholder engagement assessment matrix The stakeholder engagement plan is developed during the Plan Stakeholder Engagement process. The stakeholder register, enterprise environmental factors and the organizational process assets are all basic inputs to this process. The stakeholder engagement assessment matrix is developed during this process and is not an input to this process. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 516]
You have recently been hired into an organization that has a reputation of operating best project management practices and processes. For your very first project in this organization, you have been asked to develop a concrete and effective stakeholder engagement plan before commencing any significant project work. Which of the following is not a basic input required to develop an effective project stakeholder engagement plan? a. Stakeholder engagement assessment matrix b. Stakeholder register c. Organizational process assets d. Enterprise environmental factors
d. The individual schedule activity or work package Bottom-up estimating involves estimating the cost of individual work packages or individual schedule activities at the lowest level of detail. Activities with smaller associated effort usually increase the accuracy of the schedule activity cost estimates. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 202]
You have recently initiated an electronic commerce enabled website development project. You are currently developing your project's cost management plan and considering whether to use analogous or bottom-up estimating for the project cost estimations. Bottom-up Cost estimating is typically motivated by the size and complexity of: a. The project budget b. The statistical relationship between historical data and other variables c. The project management software d. The individual schedule activity or work package
b. When the future scenarios are known You would use a decision tree when uncertainty and unknowns exist regarding future scenarios and their outcomes, not when future scenarios are known. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 435]
You have recently joined a team that is obsessed with the use of decision trees to analyze most project situations. You are a bit concerned with this behavior and are now putting together a presentation on proper usage of decision trees. You need to give examples where you should or shouldn't apply a decision tree to analyze a project situation. Under which of the following scenarios would you not use a decision tree? a. When the outcomes of some of the actions are uncertain b. When the future scenarios are known c. When you need to look at the implications of not choosing certain alternatives d. When some future scenarios are unknown
b. Re-estimate the project and issue a change request. You must re-estimate the project and revise the project schedule and cost baselines. However, you would have to submit a change request to do so. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, page 83]
You have recently taken over a project that is struggling both in terms of schedule and costs. You have spent the first few weeks in your role trying to understand the project scope and meeting the team members. It has now become obvious that the original project time and cost estimates were too optimistic. What needs to be done now? a. Reduce the project scope to fit the current budget and time allowance. b. Re-estimate the project and issue a change request. c. Outsource the work packages so that the risk can be transferred to the contractors. d. Revise the project time and cost estimates; it's never too late to fix issues.
c. A backward pass Calculation of late finish dates and late start dates for the project activities is called a backward pass. [PMBOK® Guide 6th edition, Page 210]
Your project team has recently completed the first draft of the project schedule and you are now carrying out a critical path analysis to identify the critical activities and the floats available with the non-critical activities. You now want to calculate the late finish dates and late start dates for each of the project activities. This is called: a. Schedule compression b. A forward pass c. A backward pass d. An arrow diagram
